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Thanks, is there anything i need to do to get it working from the cli?

Installing the dev tools will give you full cli functionality.
You get commands like g++, gcc, c++ for compiling. check out their respective man pages to find out which one you need, I used gcc for compiling C++ in my programming class.

Install the Unix tools and you will get a command line compiler (gcc). Install Xcode for a graphical compiler (and a whole lot more).

However, since OSX sits on top of Unix, the base install may already have gcc, g++ and c++ ready to go. A Unix box almost has to have a live c compiler just to get updates and new apps installed, but since I always install the Unix tools on any new Mac I get, I am not sure. However, an easy way to find out is to open a terminal session and enter "which gcc", "which g++" and which "c++". If the response(s) is a path, then you have the queried compiler installed.

However, since OSX sits on top of Unix, the base install may already have gcc, g++ and c++ ready to go.

It doesn't have a compiler pre-installed. The easiest way to get a compiler (gcc) is to install the Xcode development tools.

Originally Posted by Konan

A Unix box almost has to have a live c compiler just to get updates and new apps installed, but since I always install the Unix tools on any new Mac I get, I am not sure.

It doesn't have to have a compiler unless it's package management system depends on one such as the BSDs or Linux distros such as Gentoo. In my experience with *nix, it is very possible to get by without using a compiler.